10 Ways Modern Doctor Who Changed The Show Forever

In 1996, the Doctor Who TV Movie gave us a more romantic Doctor in the form of Paul McGann, and there was outrage from the purists. But rather than placate those purists with his 2005 revival, Russell T Davies doubled down on the idea of the Doctor as a more lovey-dovey hero.

There are hints of this during the first Christopher Eccleston series, as he flirts with tree lady Jabe and becomes jealous of Captain Jack Harkness. The idea of Doctor Who having a romantic lead then became even more pronounced when David Tennant was cast as the Tenth Doctor, opposite Billie Piper as returning companion Rose Tyler.

The Doctor's relationship with Rose was something we'd never seen before in Doctor Who, and their tear-jerking goodbye broke the hearts of millions back in 2006. And this was on top of the Tenth Doctor snogging basically anything with a pulse!

The love story between the Doctor and Rose established that our lead character could indeed fall in love and get their hearts broken, and it's an idea that Doctor Who has returned to time and time again.

Through the relationships with Rose, River Song, Yasmin Khan, and Rogue, modern Doctor Who has firmly established that the Doctor is no stranger to matters of the heart, giving us new dimensions to the character that were unexplored in the classic era.

It probably helped that they brought in Casanova to play the next Doctor back in 2005!